One interesting point from the poll is that Gore plus Nader is now at 53%, dwarfing the Bush vote of 40%.
-- Nathan Newman
Thursday October 5 7:05 AM ET Gore Holds Post-Debate Lead, Nader 'Surges' By Carol Giacomo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites) continued to hold a slight lead over Republican George W. Bush (news - web sites) in the Reuters/MSNBC daily tracking poll released on Thursday, the first to reflect some impact of Tuesday's presidential debate.
The survey also showed what pollster John Zogby called a ''surge'' of support for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader (news - web sites), which could affect the neck-and-neck presidential race in battleground states.
The poll, conducted by Zogby, surveyed 1,209 likely voters between Monday and Wednesday. It found the vice president leading the Texas governor 46 percent to 40 percent, five weeks ahead of the Nov. 7 election. Bush dropped a point from Wednesday's poll while Gore remained steady.
``Again this race is very close -- close among voters over 50, close among voters earning more than $50,000, close among suburban voters and those who have had some college or a college degree,'' he said.
Nader, the third party candidate who was excluded from the presidential debate in Boston, rose two points to 7 percent in the new survey.
``Gore holds on to his lead, but Nader has picked up significant support, especially after the debate,'' Zogby said.
Nader was up to 17 percent among independents and 18 percent among progressives.
``If he continues the same trend, he will have an impact on several of the battleground states,'' Zogby said.
The Reform Party's Pat Buchanan (news - web sites) had 1 percent of the likely voters polled, while Libertarian candidate Harry Browne (news - web sites) and Natural Law's John Hagelin (news - web sites) had less than 1 percent.
Another 7 percent were undecided.